INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Indiana’s four current high-fenced deer-hunting preserves would be legalized
under a bill approved by the Indiana House.
House members voted
55-39 on Tuesday on a bill that sets up a licensing and inspection process
for the preserves where farm-raised deer are hunted.
The preserves
currently aren’t regulated in Indiana and the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled
the Department of Natural Resources overstepped its authority in trying to
shut them down.
Bill sponsor Rep.
Sean Eberhart of Shelbyville says the preserves need commonsense rules to
continue and that it will benefit Indiana’s nearly 400 deer farms.
Rep. Clyde Kersey
of Terre Haute opposed the bill, arguing the preserves don’t offer true
hunting and increase the risk of spreading diseases to the state’s wild
deer.